LONDON -- The recent break in energy supplies to Georgia after a natural gas pipeline and power pylons were blown up inside Russia near the border with Georgia came during a bitter cold wave, causing considerable hardship and the risk of death from hypothermia for some.
It is not yet clear whether these were deliberate acts of sabotage by opponents of the pro-Western president of Georgia, or deliberate acts by the Russians to serve as a sharp warning to Georgia not to veer too close to the policies of America and the European Union.
Separately, Russian gas supplies to Ukraine were cut off Jan. 1 and resumed only after Ukraine agreed to pay a higher price. This too was seen as a warning: Ukraine's "orange revolution" last year set back Russian attempts to keep Ukraine within its sphere of influence.